Sudden cardiac arrest (colloquially “heart attack”) is a regular killer. The best treatment for cardiac arrest is quick and competent chest compressions to keep blood flowing through a victim's heart. Generally, every minute of delay in treating a cardiac arrest victim lowers the chance of survival by about ten percent. As a result, provision of CPR by people who are near the victim when the cardiac arrest begins, and until more advanced life support personnel can arrive, is crucial to survival rates for cardiac arrest.
Recognizing that critical CPR can come from lay people at the site of a cardiac arrest even more than from professional responders who may take many minutes to arrive, various organizations have promoted CPR training for lay people for decades. Such training may occur on CPR mannequins that include sensors for measuring the depth and timing of chest compressions, the timing of breathing, and the like, and with mechanisms for reporting a student's performance in a CPR cycle. Students may also practice chest compressions on foam blocks that simulate the compliance of a victim's chest, though such blocks do not provide much in the form of feedback.
Certain devices provide instruction during CPR and some could also be used in CPR training. For example, some automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) use voice commands to instruct rescuers on how to operate the units, and provide voice feedback regarding the rate and depth of chest compressions (e.g., providing a metronome for rate, and saying “push harder” or “push softer” for depth). More recently, the POCKETCPR device from Bio Detek Incorporated of Pawtucket, R.I. 02861, a subsidiary of ZOLL Medical Corporation, has been introduced as a small, hand-held battery-operated electronic device that a rescuer may place under his or her hands during CPR to obtain similar instructions and feedback. The POCKETCPR can also be used by a student who is training for CPR. In addition, software has been developed so that controllers such as the WII MOTE for the WII viodeogaming system can provide similar feedback for people practicing CPR.